Far removed from scenes of strife and horror and suffering, separated from them by the broad blue of the Atlantic, the tide of life rolled on peacefully in the United States. Peacefully--to all appearances. There a people torn with sympathy and pity for the wrongs wreaked on helpless Belgium by the greedy hand of Germany sought to alleviate those wrongs and bring what help they could to the suffering nation by food supplies and gifts of money and clothing. They little knew that the horrors that had waged on their own shores were to meet with success. While the American people pursued their peaceful occupations, sinuous tentacles were reaching out to entangle them in the war that was casting its shadow over Europe. On the twenty-fifth floor of a building that reared its dark heights among other skyscrapers on Wall Street, in a luxuriously furnished office, two men sat in conference--Captain Franz von Papen, Military Attache of the Imperial German Government, and Captain Karl Boy-Ed, Naval Attache. In an outer office sat Wolff von Igel, Von Papen's secretary. His knock at the door interrupted the conference in the inner office. "Lieutenant Fay wishes to see you." Von Papen glanced up with a frown. "I can't see him now. Tell him to come back in an hour." "I told him you were busy but he has a letter from the General Staff which indicates that his visit may be of importance." Von Papen hesitated. "Show him in," he ordered. A moment later Robert Fay erstwhile expert grenade thrower of the German trenches, now promoted to a lieutenancy, saluted the Captain. Von Papen eyed him closely. "Your papers?" Fay handed him a letter. Von Papen read it and handed it to Boy-Ed, his gaze returning again to Fay. "So you are here to help us? How did you make the trip?" "I arrived yesterday on the _Rotterdam_. My passport was made out to one Kearling from whom I bought it in Cologne. It is a simple matter now to buy a passport. I substituted Kearling's picture for my own. His description fitted mine nearly enough to pass." [Illustration: The counterfeit passport] "But the passport must be stamped," interposed Boy-Ed. "Yes, but that too is simple. The photograph is simply perforated to match the perforations of the stamp already on the passport. You see how easy it is. I am here. I have had no trouble. But now I am Fay, no longer Kearling." "Very good," commented Von Papen. "And now your plan." "It is to stop the export of munitions to the Allies from the United States for three months and perhaps permanently." His listeners looked at him somewhat incredulously.